This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. USC proposes to support mentoring and training for faculty/graduate student teams. This approach will provide extensive mentoring and career development activities for the target faculty, as well as research training and professional development to selected graduate students in the laboratories of target faculty. In addition, SC INBRE resources at USC will be dedicated to the support of core facilities that are vital to the USC Biomedical Engineering program, as well as to SC INBRE. Three Biomedical Engineering target faculty/ PhD student teams have been identified, two of them in the CEC and one at the SOM: Drs. Blanchette, Chem Eng;Cui, SOM;and Wang, Mech Eng., will be initial target faculty. SC INBRE will provide funding for a PhD student stipend, tuition and research supplies for each team. The Mentoring teams for the target faculty will be minimally comprised of 1 senior faculty from Engineering, 1 senior faculty from SOM and 1 senior faculty from another CRU. This approach will promote collaborations and networking among USC components as well as other CRUs. The Mentoring team will meet with target faculty each quarter face-to-face or by video conference to discuss progress and provide direction. In addition, target faculty will attend grant writing workshops offered by the Sponsored Programs office. Target faculty progress will be evaluated annually by the USC INBRE Advisory Committee. The current target faculty/ graduate student teams will be funded for two years, renewable on a competitive basis. When a target faculty member obtains independent NIH funding, they will "graduate" from INBRE funding and research proposals will be solicited from new target faculty/graduate student teams. The submitted proposals will be reviewed by members of the USC Institutional Advisory Committee.